Transcript

Are college-aged students overmedicated? Undermedicated?

DR. SUSAN NOLEN-HOEKSEMA: I think that the sad fact is that a lot of the people who need to be taking antidepressants aren't. And a lot of the people who are taking antidepressants probably could do without them. They're exposing themselves to the side effects unnecessarily. So there are a lot of folks who are prescribed antidepressants for problems in living that they might be able to handle with better support, or for problems that the antidepressants aren't that great at handling. And on the other hand, there are lots and lots of students who could benefit from antidepressants and/or psychotherapy. Probably the majority of depressed students don't get any kind of treatment.